Entertainment

Tom Lantos is serving his thirteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was first elected to Congress in November 1980 - the only Democrat to defeat an un-indicted incumbent Republican in the year of the Reagan landslide. He won his seat by the lowest plurality of any Member of Congress elected that year - 46% to his opponent’s 43%. Through excellent constituent service, careful attention to his district’s needs, and hard work in the Bay Area and in Washington, Tom has been reelected repeatedly by large margins.

An American by choice, Tom Lantos was born in Budapest, Hungary, on February 1, 1928. He was 16 years of age when Nazi Germany occupied his native country. As a teenager, he was placed in a Hungarian fascist forced labor camp. He succeeded in escaping and was able to survive in a safe house in Budapest set up by Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg. His story is one of the individual accounts which forms the basis of Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award winning documentary about the Holocaust in Hungary, The Last Days. An article about Tom’s background in World War II and the Spielberg film was published in the University of Washington alumni magazine. The San Francisco Examiner also published an article focusing on Tom’s background. The San Mateo Daily Journal published an article discussing how Tom’s experiences in the Holocaust during World War II shaped his outlook and his course in life.
In 1947, Tom was awarded an academic scholarship to study in the United States on the basis of an essay he wrote about U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In August of that year, he arrived in New York City after a week-long boat trip to America on a converted World War II troop ship. His only possession was a precious Hungarian salami, which U.S. customs officials promptly confiscated when he arrived. Just a few weeks after he left Hungary, the communist party seized control of the country.

Tom attended the University of Washington in Seattle, where he received a B.A. and M.A. in Economics. He moved to San Francisco in 1950 and began graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he later received his Ph.D. in economics. In the fall of 1950 he started teaching economics at San Francisco State University.

In the summer of 1950, Tom Lantos married his childhood sweetheart, Annette Tillemann. Their first home was a tiny apartment in San Francisco. After a few years, they were able to purchase a modest home in San Bruno, and later they bought a home in Millbrae, where their two daughters attended public schools and where Tom served for several years as a member of the Millbrae School Board.
For three decades (1950-1980) Tom Lantos was a professor of economics, an international affairs analyst for public television, and an economic consultant to businesses. He also served in senior advisory roles to members of the United States Senate.

Tom and Annette Lantos are the parents of two daughters - Annette and Katrina. Annette is married to Timber Dick, an independent businessman in Colorado, and they are the parents of ten children. Katrina is married to Richard N. Swett, former New Hampshire Congressman (1991-1995) and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark (1998-2001). The Swetts are the parents of seven children.

The San Francisco Chronicle published a biographic article about Tom Lantos in January 2007 at the time he was designated Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs: Lantos the master storyteller, communicator.

Dr. Thomas Peter “Tom” Lantos (February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008)[1] was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until his death, representing California’s 12th congressional district (numbered as the 11th District from 1981-93). The district includes the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a small portion of southwest San Francisco.

Lantos had announced in early January that he would not run for reelection in 2008 because of cancer of the esophagus.

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California’s 12th district
In office
January 5, 1981 – February 11, 2008
Preceded by William H. Royer
Succeeded by TBD

——————————————————————————–

Died February 11, 2008 (aged 80)
Bethesda Naval Medical Center
Born February 1, 1928(1928-02-01)
Budapest, Hungary
Political party Democratic
Spouse Annette Lantos
Residence San Mateo, California
Religion Jewish
Personal and family life
Born as Lantos Tamás Péter to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, Lantos was part of a resistance movement against the Nazis during the German occupation of Hungary. In his floor speeches, he sometimes referred to himself as one of the few living members of Congress who fought against fascism.

He sought refuge in a safe house established by Raoul Wallenberg; in 1981 Lantos sponsored a bill making Wallenberg an Honorary Citizen of the United States. He moved to the United States in 1947, and spoke with a pronounced Hungarian accent.

Lantos considered himself a secular Jew. He was the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress.[4] Upon immigrating to the United States under the auspices of Hillel he attended the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley, receiving his Ph.D in 1953.

For three decades prior to his service in Congress (1950–1980), Lantos was a professor of economics, an international affairs analyst for public television, and a consultant to a number of businesses. He also served as a senior advisor to several U.S. Senators.

Lantos made his first run for office in 1980, when he defeated one-term Republican congressman Bill Royer by 5,700 votes. He never faced another contest nearly that close, and was reelected 13 times.

Lantos and his wife Annette have two daughters, Annette and Katrina, and 17 grandchildren. Lantos’ wife is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church). Annette Lantos is a first cousin of the sisters Zsa Zsa, Eva, and Magda Gabor.[5] Katrina, who married ambassador and former U.S. Representative from New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district Richard Swett, was a candidate for Congress in New Hampshire, running for the House of Representative in 2002 against Charlie Bass and in 2008 for the U.S. Senate against John Sununu. His daughter Annette is married to Timber Dick, “an independent businessman in Colorado.” [6]

Lantos appeared in the Academy Award winning film The Last Days, a documentary of the Holocaust’s effect on Hungarian Jews, and “To Bear Witness”, another documentary.[7]

Lantos often brought a small white terrier named Mackó (little bear in Hungarian, pronounced mɒtskoː) to his Capitol Hill office. Lantos’ previous dog, a small poodle named Gigi, was also a fixture in Washington.

Tom Lantos was an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
Political positions
Lantos was a strong supporter of the Iraq War from the start, but from 2006 onward made increasingly critical statements about the war, and as the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs he held 20 oversight hearings on the war in 2007. See separate section below about the war in Iraq.

Lantos was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus[8] and has repeatedly called for reforms to the nation’s health-care system, reduction of the national budget deficit and the national debt, repeal of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, and opposed Social Security privatization efforts. He supported same-sex marriage rights and marijuana for medical use, was a strong proponent of gun control[9] and was adamantly pro-choice.[10]

Lantos was a well-known advocate on behalf of the environment, receiving consistently high ratings from the League of Conservation Voters and other environmental organizations for his legislative record.[11] His long-standing efforts to protect open space brought thousands of acres under the protection of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including Mori Point, Sweeney Ridge and — most recently — Rancho Corral de Tierra, which will keep its watersheds and delicate habitats free from development permanently.[12][13] In 2005 he opposed an effort to expand public use of the Farallon Islands, a protected wildlife haven.

Lantos consistently championed local transportation projects that need federal funds and, given his seniority in Congress, proved successful at delivering this support.
Foreign affairs issues
Lantos served as the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Through its more than 20 years of work, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus[14] — of which Lantos was co-chair with Representative Frank Wolf — has covered a wide range of human rights issues, speaking out for Christians who want to practice their faith in Saudi Arabia and Sudan, fighting for Tibetans to be able to retain their culture and religion in Tibet and advocating for other oppressed minorities worldwide. Lantos’ efforts to protect religious freedom in 2004 resulted in a bill to halt the global spread of antisemitism.[15]

Lantos was involved with his colleagues on the International Relations Committee on many decisions that affect other aspects of American foreign policy. Lantos spoke out strongly against waste, fraud and abuse in the multi-billion dollar U.S. reconstruction program in Iraq, and has warned that the U.S. may lose Afghanistan to the Taliban if the Bush Administration fails to take decisive action to halt the current decline in political stability there.

Lantos, then the ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, tried to disrupt U.S. military aid to Egypt. Lantos argued that the Egyptian military had made insufficient efforts to stop the flow of money and weapons across the Egyptian border to Hamas in Gaza, and had not contributed troops to internationally-supported peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Lantos was a strong advocate of Israel, and has spoken at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.[16]
1991 Persian Gulf War
See also: Nurse Nayirah
Lantos was a strong supporter of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. During the run-up to the war, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, of which Lantos was co-chairman, hosted a young Kuwaiti woman identified only as “Nurse Nayirah”, who told of horrific abuses by Iraqi soldiers, including the killing of Kuwaiti babies by taking them out of their incubators and leaving them to die on the cold floor of the hospital. These alleged atrocities figured prominently in the rhetoric at the time about Iraqi abuses in Kuwait.

The girl’s account was later challenged by independent human rights monitors.[17] “Nurse Nayirah” later turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States.[17] Asked about his having allowed the girl to give testimony without identifying herself, and without her story having been corroborated, Lantos replied, “The notion that any of the witnesses brought to the caucus through the Kuwaiti Embassy would not be credible did not cross my mind… I have no basis for assuming that her story is not true, but the point goes beyond that. If one hypothesizes that the woman’s story is fictitious from A to Z, that in no way diminishes the avalanche of human rights violations.”[17]

Lantos and John R. MacArthur, the foremost critic of the Nayirah issue, each had op-eds features in the New York Times, in which each accused the other of distortion.[18] MacArthur suggested that Lantos may have materially benefited from his having accommodated Nayirah.[19] Nayirah was later revealed to have connections to a lobbying firm in the employ of a Kuwaiti activist group, and her story has since come to be regarded as baseless propaganda.[19]
War in Iraq
By September 2002, Lantos had shown himself to be a supporter of the White House position on the war. On October 4, 2002, Mr. Lantos led a narrow majority of Democrats on the House International Relations Committee to a successful vote in support of the President’s path toward war, seeking the approval of the United Nations, but allowing the President to strike out on his own if necessary. The resolution later passed the House and the Senate with a total of 373 members of Congress supporting it. “The train is now on its way,” said Mr. Lantos after his — and the President’s — victory.[20] In later hearings on the war, Mr. Lantos continued his enthusiastic support. At one point he was confronted by witnesses who questioned the likelihood of enthusiastic Baghdadis welcoming the invading Americans; Mr. Lantos called this a kind of racism, to suggest the Iraqis might be so ungrateful.

Starting in early 2006, Mr. Lantos has distanced himself from the Bush Administration’s Iraq policy, making critical statements at hearings, on the House floor and in published media interviews about the conduct of the war. During hearings of the House International Relations Committee, where he was then the ranking member, Lantos repeatedly praised the investigative work of the office of the Special Inspector of Iraq Reconstruction General Stuart Bowen, which uncovered evidence of waste, fraud and abuse in the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars intended to help secure and rebuild Iraq.

Lantos was an immediate and consistent critic of the troop surge advocated by President Bush. On the night in January 2007 that Bush announced his plan, Lantos responded, “I oppose the so-called surge that constitutes the centerpiece of the President’s plan. Our efforts in Iraq are a mess, and throwing in more troops will not improve it.” And during a joint House hearing on September 10, 2007 featuring General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Lantos said, “The Administration’s myopic policies in Iraq have created a fiasco. Is it any wonder that on the subject of Iraq, more and more Americans have little confidence in this Administration? We can not take ANY of this Administration’s assertions on Iraq at face value anymore, and no amount of charts or statistics will improve its credibility. This is not a knock on you, General Petraeus, or on you, Ambassador Crocker. But the fact remains, gentlemen, that the Administration has sent you here today to convince the members of these two Committees and the Congress that victory is at hand. With all due respect to you, I must say … I don’t buy it.”
Darfur
On April 28, 2006, Lantos and four other Democratic U.S. Representatives (Sheila Jackson Lee, Jim McGovern, Jim Moran, and John Olver), along with six other activists, took part in a civil disobedience action in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C. They were protesting the role of the Sudanese government in carrying out genocide in the Darfur conflict and were arrested for disorderly conduct.[21]
Lebanon
On August 27, 2006, at the Israeli Foreign Ministry building in Israel, Lantos said he would block a foreign aid package promised by President George W. Bush to Lebanon and free the funds only when Beirut agreed to the deployment of international troops on the border with Syria. Lantos was meeting at the time with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni after talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Retirement
On January 2, 2008, Lantos announced he would not run for a 15th term in the House due to his cancer diagnosis. However, he had planned to complete his final term. Lantos was quoted as saying, “It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress,” he said. “I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country.” [22] [23]

Lantos had endorsed former State Senator Jackie Speier in the primary.[24]
Congressional scorecards
See also

Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
Project Vote Smart provides the following results from congressional scorecards.[25]

American Civil Liberties Union – 91% for 2005–2006
Americans for Democratic Action – 100% for 2006
American Land Rights Association – 9% for 2006
Americans for Tax Reform – 0% for 2006
AFL-CIO – 100% in 2006
Campaign for America’s Future – 100% for 2005-2006
Conservative Index-John Birch Society – 11% for Fall 2004
Children’s Defense Fund – 100% for 2006
Drug Policy Alliance – 83% for 2006
Drum Major Institute – 100% for 2005
Family Research Council – 0% for 2006
FreedomWorks – 0% for 2006
Gun Owners of America – 0% for 2006
Humane Society of the United States – 100% for 2005-2006
League of Conservation Voters – 92% for 2006
NARAL Pro-Choice America – 100% for 2006
National Association of Wheat Growers – 37% for 2005
National Education Association – 100% for 2005-2006
National Federation of Independent Business – 14% for 2005-2006
National Journal – Composite liberal score of 86.2% for 2006
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – 20 for 2006
National Organization for Women – 95% for 2005-2006
National Rifle Association – F for 2006
National Right to Life Committee – 0% for 2005-2006
National Taxpayers Union – 10% for 2006
Population Connection – 100% for 2006
Republican Liberty Caucus – 16% for 2005
Secular Coalition for America – 70% on 2006 scorecards[26]
United States Chamber of Commerce – 33% for 2006

Controversies
During a 1996 Congressional inquiry into the “Filegate” scandal, Rep. Lantos told witness Craig Livingstone that “with an infinitely more distinguished public record than yours, Admiral Boorda committed suicide when he may have committed a minor mistake.” Boorda, the Chief of Naval Operations, had recently taken his own life after his right to wear Combat V decorations had been questioned. Lantos was criticized by some (including fellow Congressman Joe Scarborough) who interpreted the remark as a suggestion that Livingstone too should kill himself.[27]

On May 3, 2000, Lantos was involved in an automobile accident while driving on Capitol Hill. Lantos drove over a young boy’s foot and then failed to stop his vehicle. He was later fined over the incident for inattentive driving.[citation needed]

In 2002, Lantos, who was on the House Committee on International Affairs, took Colette Avital, a Labor Party member of the Israeli Knesset, by the hand, and, according to Ha’aretz, tried to reassure her with these words: “My dear Colette, don’t worry. You won’t have any problem with Saddam. We’ll be rid of the bastard soon enough. And in his place we’ll install a pro-Western dictator, who will be good for us and for you.” [28] He later denied saying this, but Avital confirmed it. [29]

In June 2007, Lantos called former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder a “political prostitute” at the dedication ceremony of the Victims of Communism Memorial, which caused a political backlash from the German government. Lantos was referring to Schröder’s ties to energy business in Russia, and remarked that this appellation would offend prostitutes.[30]

In October 2007, Dutch parliament members said Lantos insulted them while discussing the War on Terrorism by stating that the Netherlands had to help the United States, because they liberated them in the Second World War, while adding that the upheaval over Guantanamo in Europe was bigger than over Auschwitz at the time.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Tom Lantos, a Hungarian born-Holocaust survivor, outspoken global human rights advocate and veteran Democratic foreign affairs expert, died Monday, a month after announcing he had cancer.

California representative Lantos, who had just turned 80, was surrounded by his family when he died Monday morning in Bethesda naval hospital north of Washington, his spokeswoman Lynne Weil said.

He died from complications of cancer of the esophagus, which he said last month would force his retirement from the House of Representatives, where he had served since being elected in 1980 and latterly chaired the chamber’s Foreign Affairs committee.

When he announced his diagnosis, Lantos, expressed his “profoundly felt gratitude to this great country.”

“It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress,” he said.

Tributes quickly poured in for Lantos, from across the political aisle.

President George W. Bush hailed him as a “champion” of human rights.

“As the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, Tom was a living reminder that we must never turn a blind eye to the suffering of the innocent at the hands of evil men,” Bush said in a statement issued from the White House, where flags were lowered to half-staff.

Hillary and Bill Clinton remembered the “courageous and improbable journey” of Lantos’s life.

“Tom bore witness to the worst of human cruelty and devoted his life to stopping it,” the Clintons said in a statement.

Clinton’s Democratic White House rival Barack Obama honored Lantos’s “truly extraordinary life” in which he “never wavered in his defense of freedom and opposition to tyranny.”

House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the veteran congressman’s passing was a “terrible loss” while the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen described Lantos as an “unfailingly gracious and courageous man.”

Born in Budapest to a Jewish family in February 1928, Lantos was 16 when Nazi Germany occupied Hungary. As a teenager, he was a member of the anti-Nazi resistance, and later of the anti-Communist student movement.

After the Soviets invaded Hungary, he discovered that most of his family had died in the Holocaust. By 1947, he was in the United States on an academic scholarship and became an economics professor in San Francisco.

Since the Democrats regained control of Congress in 2006 elections, Lantos has used his committee to launch strident appeals for greater US action on human rights in China, Darfur, Myanmar and Russia.

Under his stewardship, the committee voted in October to describe the mass slaughter of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as “genocide” — plunging US relations with Turkey into crisis.

Lantos had also emerged as a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and warned last June “Russia’s tactics under the KGB colonel now in charge of the Kremlin threaten to send the country back to its authoritarian past.”

Tom Lantos dies

Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee, died early Monday morning after a bout with esophageal cancer, according to a release by his office.  He was 80.

Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, died at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, according to the release.

Lantos disclosed last month that he had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus and would not seek another term in the House.
Governor Dean issued the following statement:

Our nation has lost a great public servant with the passing of Representative Tom Lantos. In serving his constituents and his country, Tom never forgot the Democratic Party’s ideals of freedom, fairness, and opportunity for all. As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he was an authority on foreign policy issues and a voice for the oppressed. The only Holocaust survivor in Congress, he was a forceful and passionate advocate for civil liberties and human rights. Today, I join with countless others across the country in offering my thoughts and prayers to Rep. Lantos’ family and friends as we honor his life and legacy.
And from a statement on Lantos’ House website:

Throughout his adult life Lantos sought to be a voice for human rights and civil liberties. He and Annette Lantos, his childhood sweetheart and wife of nearly 58 years were, as Lantos put it, “full partners both in Congress and in life,” and they continued their work right up to his final days. Tom Lantos was the founding co-chairman of the 24-year-old Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which Annette directed as a volunteer since its inception. He also founded the Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus.
Annette said that her husband’s life was “defined by courage, optimism, and unwavering dedication to his principles and to his family.”

Respect your elders!  Appreciate from where you come!  And know that everything is going to be just fine.  This seemed the theme for the 50th Grammy presentation…..and it worked!

This evening I spent a little time doing something I have avoided for years; sat through The Grammy Award Presentation.

For years I have avoided watching any entertainment award presentation.  There seems so many of them these days, no particular award really pops out to say “great.”  Plus, I watched this year because you can always get a good grip on how the music industry is doing by watching certain award presentations.  So, while the Grammy’s are an annual affair, there will only be one fiftieth awards show presentation.  I watched to see how the academy would deal with this one time event in music’s history.

I was impressed!

Most, if not all, award shows are rarely seamless.  And lately, before the writers strike gave us a unwitting reprieve from them, award shows have been a bore.   It seemed television, movies, and music talent have been out to stroke their unbridled egos.  As you know, there is always one entertainer, lyricist, producer, or “has been” star(let) trying to do too much with their few minutes of worldwide attention.

Admit it or not, good or bad, awards shows always have moments you can remember from the night.  For most of the last ten or so Grammy’s (or those like them)  the moments have been somewhat embarrassing.  Brit Spears appearance on the MTV’s this year is one such experience.

The 50th Grammy’s did deliver on the moments.  While others might have had seperate ones from myself, there are three (if not four) special moments that brought me to my feet (sorta) to clap.

Vince Gill Wins the Country Album of the Year.

If there is one phrase that best describes country music these days it could very well be cookie cut country.  This symptom is not the artists fault.  Its the programers who are TOLD what to play, when to play it, and who NOT to play.  Vince Gill is one of those artists they have been told NOT to play….at least not the new stuff.  So, it was incredibly refreshing to see Gill push aside all the country rockers and King George ( said with respect) to win the country album of the year.

Even Gills remark to Kanye about his never having had been given a Grammy from a Beatle (Ringo Starr) was taken in good stride.  It was nice to see comedy exists among artists of different genre.

Kid Rock Croons with Keely Smith

Did you know Keely Smith before she took stage to sing with Kid Rock?  If you did, great!  I had no clue.  When she says she is going to sing the moment seems awkward and unrehearsed.  Then out walks Kid Rock.  Now, I am thinking what a strange pairing.

BUT, let’s see what happens.

A few would complain that Kid Rock at an award show is becoming somewhat repetitious.  However, I would beg to differ.  THIS moment was much much much different.  The Kid accepted on this night a standard bearers position for the future of the music industry.

Over the last few months I have come to truly appreciate the heart and talent of Kid Rock.  He spent an enormous amount of time with Robin Williams entertaining our troops at war in Afghanistan.  After having spent time seeing a new slice of life at war, now, here he was on stage with Keely Smith, the first Grammy Award recipient expanding his presence in an almost spiritual way.   Yesss…..spiritual!

At the start of the song,  Ms Smith seemed somewhat nervous.  Her body language is saying would my voice mix well with a new and younger generation.  Ms Smith had cover songs by Sinatra.  But, this moment seemed scary for her.  BUT, The Kid’s change of singing styles seemed to quickly make her feel accepted; her music and her place in music history was affirmed.  As such,  Kid helped her to relax and they blended in a marvelous bluesy moment.

Whatever seams were loose between the old and the new in the music industry (at this point in the show) The Kid made them a bit tighter after their performance.

THAT is spiritual!

Tina Turner Moves On The Grammys

Beyonce is not Tina….and Tina is not Beyonce!  In other words, no one could ever bring to the stage the energy and effervences of a Tina Turner.  Her moves were powerful, forceful, purposeful, and passionate.  But, the years have slowed Tina and she is not the young pup Beyonce is today.  BUT, this celebration of the old and new, on this program at least, could have cared less.

Tina may have lost a few steps.  BUT, her presence and sense of what sounds good far outweighed whatever steps she might have missed on stage.  Besides, unlike Britney’s walk through performance…Tina was Tina havin’ fun!   This moment proved to me…Beyonce, with her great sound,  has a while to go before she can move those sensually powerful thighs of hers like Tina.

Josh Groban and Andrea Boccelli Close Grammys on a High Note

Every awards presentation has a “memorium” for those in the industry who’ve died.  Most of these moments are placed in the middle of the show with a “fade to black” moment of silence.  This year’s Grammy’s left me feeling the power of the lives whose affect on music were truly great.

The list, as usual, is a who’s who of major and minor contributors to the music industry.  The final name, photo, and pwerful voice  you hear is that of Pavorotti.  Josh Groban is introduced by the always dapperly dressed Andrea Bocelli.  Groban begins the shortened version of “The Prayer,” made famous by Celine Deon and Bocelli.  This tender duet is carried well for the first few lines.  BUT, when Groban stands singing the Italian verses along side of Bocelli all thoughts of Celine pleasantly evaporate.  One could only hope these two would take THIS show on the road.

The end result:  all loose seams between the old and the new are tighter than ever on the creative side of the music industry.

I, at least, am left with one thought.  Despite the sad state of corporately run local music radio, the state of music is going to be just fine.  Because, last night a few people who care about musics future have stepped forward to be the standard bearers for what quality and excellence there remains in the heart of the songwriters, producers, and singers.

Richard Zedník (Born January 6, 1976) is a Slovak professional hockey player who plays right wing for the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers. He was drafted in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals, in the tenth round, two-hundred forty-ninth overall, after playing junior hockey for the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League.

Playing career

On October 31st, 2000, a local Washington, DC radio station DC101 had a promotion in which they offered fans a free ticket and Zednik jersey if they dyed their hair blond as Zednik had in the offseason. Over two hundred people showed up as “Zed Heads” and Zednik scored his first career hat trick against the Detroit Red Wings. [1].

On April 26, 2002, during a playoff game in Montreal against the Boston Bruins, Zednik was elbowed in the face by Bruin defender Kyle McLaren. Zednik, who had scored both goals for Montreal in the 5-2 loss, suffered a fractured cheekbone, broken nose, and a concussion. The injuries forced Zednik to miss the remainder of the playoffs.

Neck injury

On February 10, 2008, in a game between the Florida Panthers and the Buffalo Sabres, teammate Olli Jokinen’s skate blade cut the side of Zednik’s neck. Both players were skating towards a corner: Jokinen was skating down the wing for a body check and Zednik was skating behind the net. Jokinen completed his check and fell forward with his feet flying up. His skate struck Zednik’s neck, and Zednik immediately skated to the Florida bench, leaving a significant trail of blood on the ice.(TSN video) He was immediately attended to by Florida trainer Dave Zenobi and sent to hospital. Zednik underwent surgery that night, and is currently listed as stable.[1] The game was delayed for more than 15 minutes as the zamboni was needed to help clean the blood from the ice. Zenobi and assistant general manager Randy Sexton are remaining with Zednik; the Panthers have arranged for his wife Jessica Welch to be flown in.[1]

Transactions

Richard Zednik was traded by the Washington Capitals on March 13, 2001, along with Jan Bulis and a first round draft pick (Alexander Perezhogin), to Montreal in exchange for Trevor Linden, Dainius Zubrus, and a second round draft pick (later traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning).

After playing the next 3 years in Montreal, Zednik was traded back to the Capitals on July 12th, 2006 for a third round draft-pick.

On February 26, 2007, Zednik was traded by Washington to the New York Islanders for a 2nd round draft pick.

While being an unrestricted free agent, “Zed” signed a 2-year contract with the Florida Panthers on July 1st , 2007.

Personal life

Zednik is married to Canadian actress Jessica Welch. They have a daughter name Ella born on December 6, 2003.

Career statistics
Regular Season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1994-95 Portland WHL 65 35 51 86 89 9 5 5 10 20
1995-96 Portland WHL 61 44 37 81 154 7 8 4 12 23
1995-96 Portland AHL 1 1 1 2 0 21 4 5 9 26
1995-96 Washington NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — –
1996-97 Portland AHL 56 15 20 35 70 5 1 0 1 6
1996-97 Washington NHL 11 2 1 3 4 — — — — –
1997-98 Washington NHL 65 17 9 26 28 17 7 3 10 16
1998-99 Washington NHL 49 9 8 17 50 — — — — –
1999-00 Washington NHL 69 19 16 35 54 5 0 0 0 0
2000-01 Washington NHL 62 16 19 35 61 — — — — –
2000-01 Montreal NHL 12 3 6 9 10 — — — — –
2001-02 Montreal NHL 82 22 22 44 59 4 4 4 8 6
2002-03 Montreal NHL 80 31 19 50 79 — — — — –
2003-04 Montreal NHL 81 26 24 50 63 11 3 3 6 2
2004-05 Zvolen Slovakia 36 15 19 34 56 17 9 10 19 12
2005-06 Montreal NHL 67 16 14 30 48 6 2 0 2 4
2006-07 Washington NHL 32 6 12 18 16 — — — — –
2006-07 New York Islanders NHL 10 1 2 3 2 5 0 0 0 8
NHL Totals 621 168 152 320 474 48 16 10 26 41

International play

Played for Slovakia in:

* 2006 Winter Olympic Games
* World Championships - 2001, 2003 (bronze medal), 2005
* World Cup of Hockey - 1996, 2004
* Team Slovakia - 45 caps / 10 goals

Venezuelan President Threatens to Cut Off Oil Sales to US, Calls Exxon Mobil ‘Outlaws’

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an “economic war” if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavez’s government.

A British court has issued an injunction “freezing” as much as $12 billion in assets.

“If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we’re going to harm you,” Chavez said during his weekly radio and television program, “Hello, President.” “Do you know how? We aren’t going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger.”

Chavez has repeatedly threatened to cut off oil shipments to the United States, which is Venezuela’s No. 1 client, if Washington tries to oust him. Chavez’s warnings on Sunday appeared to extend that threat to attempts by oil companies to challenge his government’s nationalization drive through lawsuits.

“I speak to the U.S. empire, because that’s the master: continue and you will see that we won’t sent one drop of oil to the empire of the United States,” Chavez said Sunday.

“The outlaws of Exxon Mobil will never again rob us,” Chavez said, accusing the Irving, Texas-based oil company of acting in concert with Washington.

Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Margaret Ross said the company had no comment. A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Caracas did not return a call.

Venezuela accounted for about 12 percent of U.S. crude oil imports in November, the latest figures available from the U.S. Energy Department. The 1.23 million barrels a day from Venezuela makes that country the U.S.’s fourth-biggest oil importer behind Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has argued that court orders won by Exxon Mobil have “no effect” on the state oil company PDVSA and are merely “transitory measures” while Venezuela presents its case in courts in New York and London.

Exxon Mobil is also taking its claims to international arbitration, disputing the terms it was granted under Chavez’s nationalization last year of four heavy oil projects in the Orinoco River basin, one of the world’s richest oil deposits.

Other major oil companies including U.S.-based Chevron Corp., France’s Total, Britain’s BP PLC, and Norway’s StatoilHydro ASA have negotiated deals with Venezuela to continue on as minority partners in the Orinoco oil project.

ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil, however, balked at the tougher terms and have been in compensation talks with PDVSA.

Roy Scheider, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his role as a police chief in the blockbuster movie “Jaws,” died Sunday. He was 75.

Scheider died at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokesman David Robinson said. The hospital did not release a cause of death.

However, hospital spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said Scheider had been treated for multiple myeloma at the hospital’s Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy for the past two years.

He was nominated for a best-supporting actor Oscar in 1971’s “The French Connection” in which he played the police partner of Oscar winner Gene Hackman and for best-actor for 1979’s “All That Jazz,” the autobiographical Bob Fosse film.

However, he was best known for his role in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film, “Jaws,” the enduring classic about a killer shark terrorizing beachgoers and well as millions of moviegoers.

Widely hailed as the film that launched the era of the Hollywood blockbuster, it was also the first movie to earn $100 million at the box office. Scheider starred with Richard Dreyfuss, who played an oceanographer.

“He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call ‘a knockaround actor,’” Dreyfuss told The Associated Press on Sunday.

“A ‘knockaround actor’ to me is a compliment that means a professional that lives the life of a professional actor and doesn’t’ yell and scream at the fates and does his job and does it as well as he can,” he said.

In 2005, one of Scheider’s most famous lines in the movie “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” was voted No. 35 on the American Film Institute’s list of best quotes from U.S. movies.

That year, some 30 years after “Jaws” premiered, hundreds of movie buffs flocked to Martha’s Vineyard, off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts, to celebrate the great white shark.

The island’s JawsFest ‘05 also brought back some of the cast and crew, including screenwriter Carl Gottlieb and Peter Benchley, who wrote the novel that inspired Spielberg’s classic. Spielberg, Scheider and Dreyfuss were absent.

Dreyfuss recalled Sunday a time during the filming of ‘Jaws’ when Scheider disappeared from the set. As the filming was on hold because of the weather, Scheider “called me up and said, ‘You don’t know where I am if they call.’

“He’d gone to get a tan. He was really very tan-addicted. That was due to a childhood affliction where he was in bed for a long time. For him being tan was being healthy,” Dreyfuss said.

He added that Scheider “was a pretty civilized human being you can’t ask for much more than that.”

Scheider was also politically active. He participated in rallies protesting U.S. military action in Iraq, including a massive New York demonstration in March 2003 that police said drew 125,000 chanting activists.

Scheider had a home built for him and his family in 1994 in Sagaponack in the Hamptons, where he was active in community issues. The oceanfront house featured five bedrooms, four fireplaces and various decks and porches.

Last summer, Scheider announced that he was selling the home for about $18.75 million to singer-songwriter Billy Joel and was moving to the nearby village of Sag Harbor.

Aaja Nachle Starring:
Madhuri Dixit,Konkona Sen Sharma,Kunal Kapoor,Akshaye Khanna,Ranvir Shorey,Irfan Khan,Divya Dutta

Director: Anil Mehta
Music: Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant

Aaja Nachle is the movie of bollywood’s most charming, beautiful and graceful actress Madhuri Dixit who has ruled millions of hearts worldwide. She is back to bollywood after 5 years. She is arguably one of most talented and popular actresses of Bollywood.

Gemma Atkinson has been evicted from I’m a Celebrity

Actress and model Gemma Atkinson became the seventh celebrity to be evicted from the jungle on Wednesday night as the public voted her out.

The 23-year-old from Manchester shouted “Yes!” and threw her arms in the air as the result was announced, before hugging her fellow I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here campers.

Speaking afterwards with Ant and Dec, she said: “I feel great. Thank you everyone for getting me out.

“Do you know what, I’ve had enough. When you’re cold and hungry the whole time…”

“The whole thing’s been great and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. There’s no stress, nothing… but you get used to it and you miss the hustle and bustle.”

Asked about the explosive arguments that have characterised the reality show this year, she said: “I think it’s just a clash of characters, it’s weird because it was all the older people rowing. It was quite funny and you knew it was going to explode. I think Janice liked to wind people up, but it was kind of in a funny way.”

Asked who she hoped would win the series, she replied “Biggins or J”.

Former supermodel Janice Dickinson shocked her fellow campmates by insisting she had never had a one night stand - despite previously boasting of having 1,000 lovers.

Dickinson, 52, has previously been giving glamour model Gemma Atkinson advice on how to spice-up her sex life.

But she made the latest of a string of revelations about her private life after the campmates had to guess whether the percentage of people who had had one night stands was 44% or 63%. The contestants correctly guessed 44%, but Janice, with a straight face, added: “Well I’m 63%.”